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PIRITUALISM. 




JUN16 1892 



1892 J i 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1892. 



SPIRITUALISM. 







our 




i 



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PHILADELPHIA : 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1892. 






Copyright, 1892, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 




SPIRITUALISM. 



Spiritualism (on the Continent usually termed 
Spiritism) is the name applied to a great and 
varied series of abnormal or preter-normal phe- 
nomena purporting to be for the most part caused hy 
spiritual beings, together with the belief thence 
arising of the intercommunion of the living and 
the so-called dead. The following is a definition 
given in the London Spiritual Magazine, for many 
years the best exponent of the subject in Great 
Britain : ' Spiritualism is a science based solely on 
facts ; it is neither speculative nor fanciful. On 
facts and facts alone, open to the whole world 
through an extensive and probably unlimited sys- 
tem of mediumship, it builds up a substantial psy- 
chology on the ground of strictest logical induction. 
Its cardinal truth, imperishably established on the 
experiments and experiences of millions of sane 
men and women, of all countries and creeds, is that 
of a world of spirits, and the continuity of the 
existence of the individual spirit through the 
momentary eclipse of death; as it disappears on 
earth reappearing in that spiritual world, and be- 
coming an inhabitant amicl the ever-augmenting 
population of the spiritual universe. ' 

The movement known as ' modern spiritualism ' 
is usually considered to have commenced in the year 
1848, with certain mysterious noises and movements 
occurring in a house temporarily occupied by Mr 
Fox and family at Hydeville in' the state of New 
York ; and his two daughters, Margaret and Kate, 
aged twelve and nine years respectively, were the 
first individuals recognised as mediums, in whose 

iiresence the phenomena more particularly occurred. 
[t must not be supposed that the phenomena them- 
selves were at all new. Throughout all history 



4 SPIRITUALISM. 

there are records of similar occurrences. Such 
were the disturbances at the ancient palace of 
Woodstock in 1649; at Mr Mompesson's at Ted- 
worth in 1661 ; at Epworth parsonage in 1716, in 
the family of Mr Wesley, the father of the founder 
of Methodism ; the Cock Lane ghost in London 
investigated by Dr Johnson, Bishop Percy, and 
other gentlemen ; the extraordinary occurrences in 
the house of Mr Jobson in Sunderland in 1839, 
which were investigated and published by Dr 
Clanny, F.R.S., and authenticated by sixteen 
Avitnesses, including five physicians and surgeons ; 
and numerous less important cases recorded in the 
works of William Howitt, Robert Dale Owen, Dr 
Eugene Crowell, and many older writers. But 
none of these occurrences attracted much attention 
or led to any systematic investigation of the sub- 
ject. What especially distinguishes the year 1848 
is that it was the starting-point of a movement 
which has grown and spread continuously, till, in 
spite of ridicule, misrepresentation, and persecu- 
tion, it has gained converts in every grade of 
society and in every civilised portion of the globe. 
Spiritualism is now to be found as frequently 
among the highest aristocracy as among the middle 
classes and the poor. It has its full proportion of 
believers in the foremost ranks of science, litera- 
ture, and art, and in all the learned professions. 
In every European country, in America, and in 
Australia there are numerous periodicals which 
diffuse a knowledge of its phenomena, its teachings, 
and its philosophy ; while it claims to have pro- 
foundly modified the teaching of some among our 
clergy as to the nature and purpose of the future 
life. These facts and characteristics broadly dis- 
tinguish modern spiritualism as being very different 
from anything that has preceded it, and claim for 
it a respectful consideration. 

When the knockings and movements of furniture 
were first heard and seen they were assumed to be 
due to some trick or other natural cause, and there 
was in every case and throughout the whole course 
of the movement a strong prejudice against any 
other explanation of them. When the Fox family 
could not detect this cause the neighbours were 
called in, but equally without result. It was soon 
observed that the more violent sounds or motions 
occurred in the presence or in the immediate 
vicinity of one or other of the little girls, and 
every precaution was taken against possible trick 
on their part. They were closely watched, were 



SPIRITUALISM. 5 

held hand and foot, were tied in bags or put to 
stand barefooted on pillows, but all in vain. The 
raps or loud knockings on doors or tables, on floor 
or ceiling, occurred just the same. But this was 
only a part of the phenomena. It was observed 
that the noises occurred at request, or as if in reply 
to observations. Then the alphabet was used, and 
questions were answered by raps at certain letters 
which, when written down, formed connected 
words and sentences. In this way the statement 
was elicited that the sounds were made by the spirit 
of a man who had been murdered in the house and 
buried in the cellar. After several explorations 
human bones with charcoal and lime were dis- 
covered there. Some confirmatory evidence as to 
this murder was obtained, and some of the previous 
dwellers in the house stated that they also had 
been disturbed by unaccountable noises. The 
excitement caused by these occurrences was so 
great that in order to satisfy the curiosity of 
visitors the Fox family were obliged to submit to 
public exhibitions and tests of the remarkable 
phenomena occurring in the presence of their chil- 
dren, and thus public mediumship began. But at 
the same time other mediums were discovered in 
different parts of the country, as if a special 
development of this abnormal power were then 
occurring. A few of the more remarkable of these 
mediums may be here briefly referred to. 

In 1845 an altogether illiterate youth, Andrew 
Jackson Davis, the son of a poor weaver and 
apprenticed to a shoemaker at Poughkeepsie, New 
York, began to exhibit remarkable powers as a 
trance speaker and a clairvoyant. healer of diseases. 
During his trances he exhibited such extensive 
knowledge of subjects quite beyond his waking- 
abilities or acquirements as to attract the attention 
of learned men, and under their auspices he de- 
livered in New York 157 lectures which were after- 
wards published in a volume of 800 pages. These 
powers have continued to be exerted during a long 
life. One of his disciples was Thomas Lake Harris 
(q.v.), whose Lyric of the Golden Age, a poem of 
384 pages, was dictated in ninety-four hours, and 
in the opinion of William Howitt deserves the 
praise that has been given it of possessing almost 
Mil tonic grandeur. Just about the same time 
(1846-50) the Davenport brothers began to exhibit 
the remarkable physical phenomena that puzzled 
so many observers in every part of the world ; 
and it was about the year 1846 that the celebrated 



6 - SPIRITUALISM. 

medium Home, then thirteen years old, had 
his first vision of a boy friend, 300 miles away, 
who intimated to him that he had died three 
days before at a certain hour, which was after- 
wards found to be perfectly correct. 

Nature and Range of the Phenomena. — In almost 
every case the medium is a person who in youth 
sees visions and hears voices which often com- 
municate intelligence of distant and sometimes 
future events quite unknown to himself or family. 
Following such phenomena, and apparently to 
attract the attention of other persons, noises usually 
occur; sometimes voices are heard, and sometimes 
musical sounds. Then follow movements of ma- 
terial objects, either visibly or more often in the 
dark, or in such a way that the result only is 
seen. Rooms and even houses are sometimes 
shaken ; bells sometimes ring violently without 
material cause ; flowers, fruits, or other objects are 
brought from a distance into closed rooms, some- 
times of particular kinds as desired at the moment 
by those present. Another curious phenomenon is 
the tying and untying of knots. Sometimes the 
medium is tied in such a manner that it is plainly 
impossible he could have so tied himself ; some- 
times when tied by other persons, and the knots 
and ends of the cords out of his reach, he is almost 
instantaneously released. Knots are sometimes 
tied on endless cords in a manner impossible by 
human agency, as in the experiments of Professor 
Zollner. 

A frequent phenomenon is the playing on mu- 
sical instruments without human agency, as on an 
accordion held by the medium by one hand, and 
sometimes when held by spectators. Closed pianos 
are sometimes played on, while accordions or tam- 
bourines are, as it were, floated in the air and 
played upon at the same time. 

Writing or drawing is often performed without 
human agency. Sometimes the writing occurs on 
papers held or thrown under the table, or when 
placed in locked drawers, or enclosed between 
slates tied or screwed together. Sometimes the 
writing thus obtained is in answer to questions 
which may be spoken or written, and either known 
or unknown to the medium. The drawings are of 
various kinds. Some are on slates with pencil or 
chalks, some on paper. Very effective drawings in 
crayons, water-colours, or oils are produced with 
extreme rapidity and under conditions which render 
normal human agency impossible. A Scottish 



SPIRITUALISM. 7 

medium was accustomed to produce small land- 
scapes in oils on cards privately marked by the 
witnesses and in total darkness, the result being- 
seen with the paints still wet. These were usually 
effective and artistic works. In another case the 
space under a table was enclosed by a large shawl 
hanging to the ground. Marked cards were thrown 
underneath, and in from ten to fifteen seconds the 
drawings were complete. A number of these draw- 
ings were in the possession of the late Mr Benjamin 
Coleman, and were shown to the present writer. 
One in particular was on paper marked by Mr Cole- 
man with two pin-holes by pins which were stuck 
through a small strip of paper which was kept as a 
proof of the identity of the paper so marked. The 
drawing that Avas made on this paper consisted of 
two birds holding a garland of flowers in their 
bills, and was so executed that the two pin-holes 
which had been made on the paper formed the 
eyes of the two birds, while their exact correspond- 
ence with the strip kept with the pins in it showed 
that the very paper Mr Coleman had so marked 
had been used. Lord Borthwick was present when 
these drawings were described, and confirmed Mr 
Coleman's account of them before the committee 
of the Dialectical Society in 1869. 

One of the most striking of the physical pheno- 
mena is the levitation of the human body, which 
has occurred with many mediums, but has never 
been more thoroughly tested than with the late 
Mr Home. The extraordinary elongation of his 
body was also tested by many competent observers ; 
while in his presence, as in that of some other 
mediums, heavy tables were often raised to a con- 
siderable height, or inclined at an angle of nearly 
45°, without the numerous objects on the table, as 
books, glasses, lamps, &c, falling off. 

A very marvellous phenomenon exhibited by Mr 
Home, and a very few other mediums, is the power 
of neutralising the action of fire, both in their 
own persons and in that of some of the spec- 
tators. Lord Lindsay (since 1880 Earl of Craw- 
ford) made the following statement before the 
Dialectical Society : ' I have frequently seen Home 
when in a trance go to the fire and take out large 
red-hot coals and carry them about in his hands, 
put them inside his shirt, &c. Eight times I have 
myself held a red-hot coal in my hands without 
injury, when it scorched my face on raising my 
hand. ... A few weeks ago I was at a seance 
with eight others. Of these seven held a red-hot 



8 SPIRITUALISM. 

coal without pain, and the two others could not 
hear the approach of it.' Lord Adare, Mr Jencken, 
and several others saw Mr Home stir the fire with 
his hands and then put his face right among the 
burning coals, moving it about as though bathing 
it in water. Mrs S. C. Hall, the Earl of Crawford, 
and several others saw Mr Home place a large 
lump of burning coal on Mr S. C. Hall's head and 
draw up his white hair over the red coal. It 
remained there several minutes. After it was 
taken away it burned the fingers of some who 
attempted to touch it. A number of other persons 
of the highest character have testified to similar 
occurrences with Mr Home. 

Even more extraordinary, and still more remote 
from the normal powers' of mankind, is the pro- 
duction of visible and tangible hands — which lift 
objects, and sometimes write, and then dissolve 
away — of faces, and even of entire figures, all 
under conditionswhich render imposture impossible. 
Both visible and invisible phantoms have had their 
objectivity proved by being photographed, and this 
has been done by experts who are above suspicion 
and under conditions which render the reality of 
the phenomena demonstrable. Both hands, feet, 
and faces of these phantom forms have produced 
moulds in melted paraffin, again under conditions 
which render imposture on the part of the mediums 
out of the question. 

Yet another and final series of phenomena, which 
may be termed psychological or spiritual, are the 
seeing of spirits or spiritual forms invisible to 
others, hearing their voices, and by this means 
obtaining knowledge of circumstances occurring at 
a distance ; or of facts unknown to any one present, 
but afterwards verified ; or of future events which 
afterwards happen as predicted — of all of which 
there is ample evidence. Persons gifted with this 
power often give long and eloquent addresses, or 
have elaborate essays written through their hands, 
but without any conscious mental agency on their 
part ; and it is from these communications that we 
acquire our most complete knowledge of the teach- 
ing and philosophy of modern spiritualism. 

Some Characteristics of Mediums. — These numer- 
ous distinct classes of phenomena exhibit endless 
modifications in detail with different mediums, and 
there are several important considerations which 
are inconsistent with their being, to any considerable 
extent, due to imposture. In the first place, almost 
every medium exhibits his powers in youth or even 



SPIRITUALISM. 9 

in childhood without any opportunity of learning 
the methods employed by professional conjurers. 
In the second place, each medium exhibits con- 
siderable individuality, and rarely, perhaps never, 
offers an exact reproduction of the phenomena 
occurring with other mediums. In the third place, 
all the phenomena occur sometimes in private 
houses, to which the medium comes without any 
apparatus whatever. In the fourth place, every 
class of phenomena has occurred with unpaid 
mediums, as well as with those who make medium- 
ship a profession. And lastly, many of the most 
remarkable mediums have submitted to elaborate 
and careful tests by scientific and intelligent 
observers with results wholly beyond the powers 
of professional conjurers. 

Notable Investigators of the Phenomena. — In 
order to appreciate the important bearing of such 
investigations on the theory that the whole body of 
spiritualistic phenomena are due to delusion or 
imposture, a few of- the best known of these 
inquirers must be referred to. Perhaps the earliest 
scientific investigator was Dr Robert Hare (q.v.) 
of Philadelphia, an eminent chemist, especially 
known for his invention of ingenious apparatus. 
He, like all other earnest and patient inquirers, 
began under the impression that he would be able 
to expose a delusion ; but all his experiments and 
tests, with apparatus of his own devising, proved 
that he had to deal with a great reality. He 
accordingly tried to induce the legislature to 
appoint a committee to examine and report on 
the experiments, and failing to succeed in this 
published his results in a volume entitled Escperi- 
mental Examination of the Sjjiritual Manifestations. 

Judge Edmonds, one of the most acute and pains- 
taking of American lawyers, devoted years to a 
thorough examination of the phenomena, with the 
assistance of the most intelligent men of science 
and education among his acquaintance. He him- 
self became a medium, as did his daughter ; and 
this young lady, though possessing only the or- 
dinary American school acquirements, was able 
when in a trance to speak many foreign languages, 
including modern Greek, and to hold conversations 
in them with natives. 

Professors Mapes and Loomis, both chemists, 
assisted by two physicians and other friends, tested 
the Davenport brothers, and found that the 
phenomena occurring with them were in no way 
due to conjuring. This verdict was confirmed by 



10 SPIRITUALISM. 

many inquirers in England, among others by the 
late Sir Richard Burton, the last man to be im- 
posed upon by conjuring, and to endorse it as 
reality. Yet he says, in a published letter, ' I have 
now witnessed four of the so-called dark seances. 
These were all in private houses — one of them in 
my own lodgings. We rejected all believers, and 
chose the most sceptical and hard-headed of our 
friends and acquaintances, some of whom had 
prepared the severest tests. We provided care- 
fully against all possibility of confederates, and 
brought our own cords, sealing-wax, tape, dia- 
chylon, musical instruments, and so forth. . . . 
Sparks of red and pale fire have fallen from the 
ceiling, sometimes perpendicularly, at other times 
crossing the room. Mr Fay's coat was removed 
whilst he was securely fastened hand and foot, and 
a lucifer match was struck at the same instant 
showing us the two gentlemen fast bound and the 
coat in the air on its way to the other end of the 
room. ... I have spent a great part of my life in 
oriental lands, and have seen there many magicians. 
... I have read and listened to every explanation 
of the Davenport " tricks " hitherto placed before 
the public, and if anything would make me take 
that tremendous leap " from matter to spirit," it is 
the utter and complete unreason of the reasons by 
which the manifestations are explained.' 

Among other investigators of known integrity 
and ability are Robert Dale Owen and Dr Robert 
Chambers, who investigated the phenomena with 
Kate Fox in New York, while the latter was the 
friend of Home, and wrote for him the introductory 
chapter and the appendix to his Incidents of my 
Life. Dr George Sexton, an earnest secularist 
teacher and lecturer, was converted by phenomena 
occurring in his own house and through mediums 
who were members of his own family or personal 
friends ; and he afterwards investigated the ma- 
terialisation phenomena occurring through Miss 
Cook. Mr Cromwell Varley, the electrician, tested 
the same phenomena by means of electrical appar- 
atus. Dr Lockhart Robinson, after a long experi- 
ence in the treatment of the insane, and having 
been a violent opponent of spiritualism as wholly 
founded on imposture and delusion, was converted 
by phenomena occurring in his own house in the 
presence of the A merican medium Squire. Professor 
Zollner of Leipzig, in his work Transcendental 
Physics, has described the most marvellous pheno- 
mena occurring in his own study and under the 



SPIRITUALISM. 11 

strictest test conditions, in the presence of the 
medium Slade with some of his fellow-professors as 
witnesses. And lastly, we have Mr William 
Crookes, one of the first chemists and physicists in 
Europe, who for several years (from 1870 to 1874) 
devoted a considerable portion of his time to the 
investigation of the phenomena, and had the 
courage to make public these experiments and their 
results. With several different mediums, in his 
own house and subject to the conditions of scien- 
tific experiment, he satisfied himself of the reality 
of the whole range of the phenomena here briefly 
described. So recently as 1889 he has published 
his notes of several seances with Mr Home, in the 
introductory observations to which he makes this 
important statement : ' Their publication will at 
any rate show that I have not changed my mind ; 
that on dispassionate review of statements put 
forth by me nearly twenty years ago I find 
nothing to retract or to alter. I have discovered 
no flaw in the experiments then made, or in the 
reasoning I based upon them.' 

The Value of these Phenomena.— In view of this 
long series of investigations by men of special 
training in science and of the highest reputation, 
spiritualists urge that the facts on which their 
beliefs are based are proved to be realities beyond 
all reasonable doubt. It may be asked, however, 
as many do ask, what is the meaning or the use of 
these strange phenomena? We feel no interest 
in moving furniture, floating bodies, fire-tests, or 
slate-writing. The answer is that to a very large 
number of minds these physical phenomena, how- 
ever low and trivial they may seem, are the most 
effectual and often the only means of compelling 
attention to the subject, and this is more par- 
ticularly the case with those imbued with the 
teachings of modern science. The moment such 
persons are really convinced that physical pheno- 
mena occur which they have always held and 
declared to be impossible, they see that there is 
something more in the matter than imposture or 
delusion, and further inquiry shows them that this 
class of facts constitute the mere outskirts of the 
subject. Almost all the agnostics and students of 
physical science who have become spiritualists — 
and they are to be counted by hundreds in every 
civilised country — have begun the investigation 
because they have been convinced that some of 
these lower physical phenomena are realities ; and 
this fact is a complete answer to those who urge 



12 SPIRITUALISM. 

that such phenomena are trivial, degrading, and 
unspiritual. If they are so, it shows that men of 
the highest education and greatest knowledge are 
attracted by these very qualities. 

The Teaching and Philosophy of Spiritualism. — 
But whenever we pass beyond these phenomena, 
and carefully examine the teachings and the 
philosophy to be found in the deliverances of 
automatic writers and trance-speakers, as well as 
in the normal writings of those who have long 
accepted and thoroughly assimilated these teach- 
ings, we enter upon a phase of the subject which 
no unprejudiced person will pronounce to be either 
useless or commonplace. The universal teaching 
of modern spiritualism is that the world and the 
whole material universe exist for the purpose of 
developing spiritual beings — that death is simply 
a transition from material existence to the first 
grade of spirit-life — and that our happiness and the 
degree of our progress will be wholly dependent 
upon the use we have made of our faculties and 
opportunities here. It is urged that the present life 
will assume a new value and interest when men 
are brought up not merely in the vascillating and 
questionable belief, but in the settled, indubitable 
conviction, that our existence in this world is really 
but one of the stages in an endless career, and 
that the thoughts we think and the deeds we do 
here will certainly affect our condition and the 
very form and organic expression of our personality 
hereafter. 

As an example of the teaching of modern spiritual- 
ism as actually given through one of the most 
intelligent spiritualists and most trustworthy 
mediums, the following short passages from Spirit 
Teachings, by M.A., Oxon., must here suffice : 
' As the soul lives in the earth-life, so it goes to 
the spirit-life. Its tastes, its predilections, its 
habits, its antipathies, they are with it still. It is 
not changed save in the accident of being freed 
from the body. The soul that on earth has been 
low in taste and impure in habit does not change 
its nature by passing from the earth-sphere any 
more than the soul that has been truthful, pure, 
and progressive becomes base and bad by death. 
. . . The soul's character has been a daily, hourly 
growth. It has not been an overlaying of the soul 
with that which can be thrown off; rather it has 
been a weaving into the nature of the spirit that 
which becomes part of itself, identiiied with its 
nature, inseparable from its character. It is no 



SPIRITUALISM. 13 

more possible that that character should be undone, 
save by the slow process of obliteration, than that 
a woven fabric should be rudely cut and the threads 
remain intact. Nay more ; the soul has culti- 
vated habits that have become so engrained as to 
be essential parts of its individuality. The spirit 
that has yielded to the lusts of a sensual body 
becomes in the end their slave. It would not be 
happy in the midst of purity and refinement. It 
would sigh for its old haunts and habits. They 
are of its essence' (p. 13). 

'Immutable laws govern the results of deeds. 
Deeds of good advance the spirit, whilst deeds of 
evil degrade and retard it. Happiness is found in 
progress, and in gradual assimilation to the God- 
like and perfect. The spirit of divine love animates 
the acts, and in mutual blessing the spirits find 
their happiness. For them there is no craving for 
sluggish idleness, no cessation of desire for pro- 
gressive advancement in knowledge. Human 
passions and human needs and wishes are gone 
with the body, and the spirit lives a life of purity, 
progress, and love. Such is its heaven. We 
know of no hell save that within the soul : a 
hell which is fed by the flame of unpurified and 
untamed lust and passion, which is kept alive by 
remorse and agony of sorrow, which is fraught 
with the pangs that spring unbidden from the 
results of past misdeeds ; and from which the only 
escape lies in retracing the steps and in cultivating 
the qualities which bear fruit in love and know- 
ledge of God ' (p. 77). 

' We may sum up man's highest duty as a 
spiritual entity in the word Progress — in know- 
ledge of himself, and of all that makes for spiritual 
development. The duty of man considered as an 
intellectual being, possessed of mind and intelli- 
gence, is summed up in the word Culture in all its 
infinite ramifications, not in one direction only, 
but in all ; not for earthly aims alone, but for the 
grand purpose of developing the faculties which 
are to be perpetuated in endless development. 
Man's duty to himself as a spirit incarnated in a 
body of flesh is Purity in thought, word, and act. 
In these three words, Progress, Culture, Purity, 
we roughly sum up man's duty to himself as a 
spiritual, an intellectual, and a corporeal being' 
(p. 154). 

The following works have been consulted in writing 
this article : The History of the Supernatural, by Wil- 



14 SPIRITUALISM. 

liam Howitt (2 vols.); Footfalls on the Boundary of 
Another World and The Debatable Land betxveen this 
World and the Next, by Robert Dale Owen ; Planchette, 
or the Despair of Science and The Proof Palpable of 
Immortality, by Epes Sargent ; Report on Spiritualism 
of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society ; 
Primitive Christianity and Modern Spiritualism, by 
Eugene Crowell, M.D. ; Researches in the Phenomena of 
Spiritualism, by AVilliam Crookes, F.R.S.; Miracles and 
Modern Spiritualism, by the present writer ; Transcen- 
dental Physics, by Professor Zollner (trans, by C. C. 
Massey) ; Spirit Teachings, published by M.A., Oxon.; 
D. D. Home: his Life and Mission, by Mine. Dunglas 
Home ; and a review of this work by Professor W. F. 
Barrett and F. W. H. Myers, in the Journal of the 
Society for Psychical Research, July 1889. 



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